Time of Need
by Nicholls
Summary: Charles watches his friend during practice one day, and realizes that Erik's powers do not come without a price.


**Time of Need**

Charles smiled as walked down the old wooden stairs that lead to the kitchen. He stretched as he entered, sensing that it was going to be a wonderful day. There was a rustle of footsteps from the hall and he nodded to Hank and Alex as they entered. Sean wandered in a couple minutes later looking very much asleep. Charles chuckled and poured himself a steaming cup of coffee that Raven had prepared.

Settling into his normal seat at the head of the table, Charles smiled and listened to the playful banter between the "kids." Alex was teasing Hank again and Raven was trying to defend him which only made Hank shift uncomfortably, this only gave Alex more ammunition to play with. Sean on the other hand looked too tired to join in and resigned to poking at his soggy cereal with his spoon and mumbling something along the lines of, "if the sun is barely up then why do I have to be?" and sighed.

When Charles was scanning the table he noticed that Erik was not present, this troubled him, seeing as Erik was normally the first one up in the morning.

"_Erik, will you be joining us for breakfast?"_

Charles decided if his friend did not answer in the next five minutes he'd have to find him. Luckily Erik answered back, albeit a bit slower than normal, as if he had just woken up.

"_I'm coming Charles," _was the sluggish reply.

A few minutes later Erik walked in wearing a pair of sweats and tennis shoes, not unlike him, but it was the way his friend behaved and looked that truly worried Charles. There were dark circles under his eyes and his hair was not neatly combed like it usually was. The telepath knew better than to ask if anything was the matter, given how proud his friend was.

As Erik sat down at the table to Charles' right, he could swear the metal silverware was vibrating. The children, too wrapped up in their own little world, sat unaware of what was transpiring around them.

"_Erik are you-"_

"_I'm fine, Charles."_Erik sent back and concentrated on the bowl in front of him. _"Just leave it alone."_

And Charles decided to stop pressuring his already short- tempered friend, for now.

* * *

><p>Training for the day went surprisingly well, Charles observed. Well, until it came to the training with Erik, of course. They had all taken a thirty minute break before they started hand- to- hand combat. Sean groaned loudly at the mention of it. He was totally terrified of Erik and everyone knew it. To his left, Alex just clapped him on the shoulder and told him to say his prayers.<p>

Much to the students' surprise, Charles agreed with the notion of them learning how to defend themselves without the use of their powers. Seeing as how Erik had the most experience in that particular field, he became the instructor. For the most part no one was ever seriously injured, just a few bumps and bruises, nothing life-threatening.

Erik had Raven spar with Alex and Hank with Sean. Charles chuckled to himself when Raven had so easily floored Alex, who walked off the mat scowling something fierce.

"You were beaten by a girl!" Sean cackled and held his stomach, trying in vain to control his laughter.

Alex advanced on him, which caused Sean to shut up with a squeak.

As the afternoon wound down, Erik took each of them on himself and taught them various moves and what they had done wrong in each of their matches. He started with Raven then Hank, Alex and Sean was the very last. Erik was demonstrating how to block various attacks from all angles.

"It's best to never be caught off guard." He explained, and they nodded.

Sean stepped onto the mat and instantly wanted to run for cover. Erik stood ten feet away, looking taller and more imposing than he normally was, his green eyes trained on the boy in front of him. He moved into a ready position and Sean reluctantly followed suit.

"I'm going to attack you and you block, understand?" Erik asked.

Sean nodded and quickly made the sign of the cross across his chest.

With lightning speed, Erik was in front of Sean and threw a punch at him that the poor boy barely had time to block. The force of impact sent him reeling back, but he stayed upright. He smiled and Erik slightly dipped his head in acknowledgement.

"Now it's your turn, Sean." Erik said as he moved back.

Sucking in a deep breath, Sean ran at Erik like he was told and prepared to attack. It was nothing fancy and he was sure Erik was thinking the same thing. He threw the punch straight ahead at Erik who moved to sidestep it easily, but for some reason he stopped. There was a brief flash of pain across the older man's face as he stopped his movement. Unfortunately for him, Sean's fist was there too.

The next thing Erik knew he was thrown back and he hit the ground hard, his head coming in contact with the grass, as the rest of his body landed on the foam mat. The wind was knocked out of him and his vision blurred. He coughed painfully, aware of the looks he was receiving from the rest of the team.

Charles ran over from where he was observing to kneel at his friend's side.

"Are you ok?" He asked, his face lined with worry.

Erik didn't want to admit that he was unsure exactly _which_ Charles had asked him the question, because right now he saw about three of him. He still had not caught his breathe and his head was killing him. Using his elbows, he propped himself up, a little too fast because his head protested rather loudly. He groaned and Charles frowned.

"Class dismissed," Erik ground out, and made his way into the mansion, still holding his head.

The students looked at each other.

"Go on." Charles said, and ran after Erik.

Alex decided to take this as a good thing. "Fine by me," he yawned and followed the Professor inside. "C'mon Sean, it looks like you could use a soda or something."

It was as if Sean were rooted to the ground. His mind was going a mile a minute, while his legs refused to move an inch. _I actually hit Erik. I am so dead!_

* * *

><p>The sound of rushing water met Charles' ears as he approached Erik's room. He walked in as Erik was splashing the cold liquid on his face. Erik turned the faucet off and grabbed a towel, catching a glimpse of Charles in the mirror.<p>

"Can I help you?" He asked as he wiped his face off.

Charles laughed. "I was going to ask you the same thing, my friend."

"The answer is no."

Erik moved past Charles and into his room dropping the towel on the dresser before settling on the bed.

"I'm sorry, if I don't entirely believe you, Erik."

As if on cue, Erik's headache flared up, this caused him to clutch his head in pain as he tried to lie down on the bed. He hated how weak this made him look, especially in front of Charles. Seeing his friend's distress, Charles walked over and shut the drapes to prevent whatever light was left from making his friend's headache even worse.

"Erik, how long have you been having these headaches?" He asked calmly.

Erik opened one eye. "What makes you say that?"

Charles shrugged. "You are awfully good at hiding them."

"Ever since my powers manifested," Erik offered. "Shaw thought it fascinating."

Charles frowned. "I have actually wondered how you control the energy that you do without it having side effects. But I suppose I found my answer." He said and sat at the end of the bed.

"Yes, I suppose you have." Erik answered softly.

They sat in silence for a moment before Charles spoke again, his voice quieter.

"How often do you get them?"

Erik thought for a moment. "I don't know, a couple of times a week. It really depends on how much I use my powers."

"I just want to make sure that you are all right." Charles said.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Erik answered his friend, a slight laugh added to his voice to reassure the telepath. "Don't worry Charles, a little headache won't kill me. I've lived through worse."

Charles scanned his friend who was lying in front of him. The very same man that he had saved from drowning himself in that dark, cold water that night. The man who expressed his disbelief at not being the only one who was different. The man who had returned to the CIA building at Charles' urging. The man who had agreed to teach the children with him.

Now, Charles could see that Erik had stripped off his sweatshirt to reveal a white T-shirt underneath. With the shirt possessing no sleeves, Charles could see the distinct numbers stand out against his friend's pale skin.

_214782_

The man who had survived the horrors of Auschwitz.

Charles smiled sadly. "Yes, I suppose you have."

* * *

><p>This is my first X-Men story ever, and I'm really only familiar with the movies and a few of the comics. Like Erik's tattoo number is <em>actually<em> 24005, in the comics not 214782 like in _First Class_. This story was inspired by Excalibur #2 pg. 7, where Charles and Erik are talking about Erik's powers and how he experiences headaches due to his control over magnetism.

Thanks for reading and I hope it wasn't horrible.


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